The cluster services provided by Application Center support the creation and general administration of the cluster infrastructure—from creating a cluster to adding or removing members.
For detailed information about this feature, see Chapter 4, "Cluster Services."
Application Center makes it very easy for you to create a cluster of servers. The New Cluster Wizard, beginning with the page shown in Figure 2.1, steps you through the creation and configuration process.
The design goal was to enable a user to create a fully functional cluster as easily and as quickly as possible. As you can see by the New Cluster Wizard pages summary in Table 2.2, this objective was reached by minimizing the amount of user input needed and by requiring a minimal number of user decision points in the creation process.
Figure 2.1 Pages in the New Cluster Wizard
The New Cluster Wizard pages and their descriptions are summarized in the next table.
Table 2.2 New Cluster Wizard Pages
Wizard page | Description |
---|---|
Welcome to the New Cluster Wizard | Starts the process and explains what the wizard does. |
Analyzing Server Configuration | The target server is analyzed to see if its configuration is adequate for serving as a cluster controller. |
Cluster Name and Description | Used to name the cluster and provide an optional description of the cluster. |
Cluster Type | Used to identify the primary type of content that will be served on the cluster. This determines which load balancing option should be used. |
Network Load Balancing (NLB) Setting | This page only appears if a current installation of NLB is bound to a network adapter. The existing NLB settings can be retained or new ones can be configured. |
Load Balancing | Used to identify whether the cluster will use NLB load balancing, other load balancing, or no load balancing. |
Load Balancing Options | Used to identify the network adaptor that will be used for load balancing. |
Cluster Type | Used to identify the types of Web sites that the cluster will service. |
Monitoring Notifications | Enables the administrator to set up default and general monitoring services (such as a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [SMTP] server or an e-mail address for notifications). |
Completing the New Cluster Wizard | Triggers completion of the process; notifies the user if cluster creation was successful. |
Once the cluster is created successfully and you close the wizard, the console tree of the MMC displays a cluster hierarchy similar to the one shown in Figure 2.2. You now have a cluster that consists of one member—the cluster controller. From this point you can scale out the cluster by adding additional members.
Figure 2.2 MMC console tree for a cluster
The settings you choose during this process provide the foundation for a load balanced, fully synchronized cluster. Even without any tuning, this base configuration will deliver balanced performance by re-balancing the cluster load as you scale out. (Later sections cover the mechanisms that are available for fine-tuning the cluster or an individual member.)
For our purposes, administrative tasks are those that deal with the composition of a cluster and the current state of its members. These tasks include activities such as adding a server to a cluster or taking a member offline. A summary and brief description of each administrative task is provided in Table 2.3.
Table 2.3 Cluster Administrative Tasks
Wizard/menu name | Description |
---|---|
Add Server to Cluster | The task of adding a server to a cluster is accomplished by using a wizard. See the next section, "The Add Cluster Member Wizard." |
Remove Server from Cluster | Removes the specified server from a cluster. |
Restart a Server | Restart a server, if required (for example, if you have installed new components). |
Change the Cluster Controller | Promote a cluster member to controller (for example, if the current controller has failed so that a new controller is required). |
Disband Cluster | Completely disband the cluster and leave the remaining server as a standalone server. |
One of the early administrative tasks is adding a server to a cluster after the cluster has been created. Once again—in keeping with the ease-of-use design goal—a wizard is available for this task. The Add Cluster Member Wizard (Figure 2.3) is launched from the cluster pop-up menu in the MMC console.
Figure 2.3 Pages for the Add Cluster Member Wizard
Table 2.4 describes the Add Cluster Member Wizard pages.
Table 2.4 Add Cluster Member Wizard Pages
Wizard page | Description |
---|---|
Welcome to the Add Cluster Member Wizard | Starts the process, explains what the wizard does, and provides these warnings:
|
Name and Credentials | Used to specify the server to add, either by browsing or by entering the server name or IP address. The current user must have, or be able to provide credentials for, a user account with administrative privileges in order to continue. |
Controller Name1 | Used to identify the controller for the cluster to which the server will be added. This is done either by browsing or by entering the controller name/IP address. In order to continue, the current user must have, or be able to, provide credentials for an account with administrative privileges. |
Analyzing Server Configuration | The specified server configuration is analyzed to ensure that it is configured adequately and is eligible to be added. |
Cluster Member Options | Used to specify a network adapter to use in an NLB cluster. |
Completing the Add Cluster Member Wizard | Triggers completion of the process; notifies the user whether the server was added to the cluster successfully. |
1. This page is not shown when running the wizard from a cluster where the controller is assumed to be the current controller.